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My Way, Certainly Not The Only Way
 There are many ways
to successfully breed Angelfish and raise their fry. I have tried many
of them and failed at most. I did, however, find a method that proved
very successful for me. First and foremost you will need a breeding
pair of Angels. Not simply a male and female, rather a pair that has
gone through the "test of worthiness". The easiest way to obtain a pair
is to purchase 6 young specimens, house them together in an adequately
sized tank and let nature take her course. The odds of getting one pair
is somewhere in the neighborhood of 80%. You may end up with two pair
if you are fortunate. Once the pair bond is established separate housing
is recommended. It is common in the early stages to witness squabbles,
chasing and lip-locking. These are natural traits and rarely result
in injury. The "test of worthiness" is just that, the female will put
the male through a series of tests to see if he is strong enough and
basically suitable to be her mate. As the pair reaches maturity the
tests continue, usually right before the female chooses her spot to
spawn. Once a suitable spot is found the female will start to prepare
the site by cleaning it. Usually a broad leaf is chosen if there is
no breeding slate provided, sometimes however, she will choose the filter
intake tube or even the heater. Not the best choices!!
Photo courtesy of an old friend
The cleaning process
usually triggers the male and he will help with the chores, sound familiar
guys? At this point the breeding tubes should be extended and easy to
locate. The female will have a wide, short tube for passing the eggs,
while the male will have a longer, pointed tube to aid in fertilization.
The female will begin to make some test runs along the chosen spot eventually
depositing the eggs. The male will follow her, dragging his tube along
the eggs thereby fertilizing them. This can take anywhere from 2 to
4 hours.
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Photo courtesy of an old friend
Once the male has been given adequate time to do his job, I give him
at least two hours, I remove the spawning site. With my pairs this is
either a piece of slate, leaf from an Amazon sword or a broad leaf from
a plastic plant. I put the slate or leaf into a 10 gallon bare bottom
tank, with heater and air stone. I position the air stone at the bottom
of the tank, in front of the slate or leaf so that the bubbles rise
close to, but not disturbing, the eggs. This mimics the parents fanning
the eggs to keep them debris free. I use fresh dechlorinated tap water
and match the main tanks temperature. I dose the tank with an anti fungal
such as Liquid Fungus Cure at a rate of 1 tsp per 5 gallons. Notice
I have not mentioned a filter as of yet. I typically will use a sponge
filter, which has been seeded in the main tank for a couple of weeks.
I do not put it in the tank until the fry hit the freeswim stage. This
will usually occur in 7 days.
I will start my brine shrimp hatchery on day 5 with a test batch to
ensure all is well. First feeding of BBS will happen once all of the
fry are freeswimming. By that time the yolk sac should be almost gone.
First feed is usually on the light side. I feed three times per day
BBS only! Nothing else has proven as good as fresh baby brine shrimp.
San Francisco Bay Brand:
Brine Shrimp Hatchery Kit
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- This newly revised brine shrimp hatchery kit is easier to
fill with water, easier to clean, less expensive and you no
longer need to find a place to hang the bottle.
- The kit comes with a base, an air tube, 3 packets of hatch
mix and complete instructions.
- All you need is a small air pump, a light source and a 2 liter
bottle.
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Typical maintenance at this stage, once freeswim is obtained, is a
daily 25% water change into a bucket. Any fry that are sucked up can
be rescued using a simple turkey baster and placed back into the tank.
Another suggestion is to wipe down the bottom of the tank once a day.
I use a scrunched up paper towel for this.
Once you notice the fry occupying all four corners of the tank, it
is time to move half of them to another tank. I use a second 10 gallon
tank for this. Again, when they occupy all four corners, another move
is in order. I use a 20 gallon at this point. Typically after this I
utilize a 25 gallon and ultimately a 55 gallon tank. All of these tanks
will house the fry until they are large enough to move on to the LFS.
This has worked for me time after time with once exception. I foolishly
kept 2 spawns from two pairs and used the above mentioned tank configuration.
In my opinion, there was not enough tank space. I did not have any greater
losses, but I did notice a size difference in the fry. They simply need
room to grow and what I have is not enough. I won't keep 2 spawns again….unless
I get another large tank!!
I feed BBS for the first 4-6 weeks, then introduce frozen BBS and even
Hikari First Bites. Eventually they are moved onto a high quality crushed
flake. Warning, these critters can pack away the food so keep a good
stock on hand. Further warning, if you do breed Angels, please make
sure you have a destination confirmed beforehand. It is not always easy
to find a taker for 150-200 baby Angels. Some local fish stores will
accept them and give you store credit, some will not. Find out this
stuff before you breed!!
I hope you can use some of the information contained in this ramble,
and I hope you enjoy breeding these magnificent creatures as much as
I do!! If I have missed anything or if you have questions, you know
where I'll be!!
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